MAKING SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

January is a time of year when the cold and dark days make me feel just plain miserable. Miss knitting on the back porch or poolside. Instead I weigh myself down with blankets to keep warm, when I could be knitting one! Hey, that's an idea!

Boredom was beginning to set in after all that pre-Christmas mayhem. As a lark I entered the contest sponsored by this blog and Maggie Sefton, a terrific writer of knitting based murder mysteries. I submitted some titles for possible book titles.

AND I'M ONE OF THE FIRST PLACE WINNERS!

I was flabbergasted. Unfortunately I can't reveal what my winning title was because apparently, good title stealing is quite the treachery in the writing world! I'll be receiving as my prize a set of autographed books from the author's Kelly Flynn series. Í enjoyed "Knit One, Kill Two", so I'm looking forward to reading more of her novels. What a really nice surprise!

Meanwhile, after completing my big Wallaby sweater project for Shaun's gift I was desperate for a little, mindless project.

One that would fulfill my need to exercise some thrift and at the same time make use of the many clutterballs of cotton yarn I've accumulated. Not to mention it's been a while since I've knitted a Ballband Dishcloth!

Well, it never hurts to throw in a Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth for good measure now, does it?

A nice beginning to reducing the surplus of dishcloth cotton! I've also been paying more attention to how I wet block the cloths to give them a nicer finish. If you spritz the top and bottoms really well and push and pull with your fingers a bit you can get a nice "pie crimping"to those frequently overlooked edges.

I'm making a slow but steady progress with my Paintbox Afghan. Only 14 more Log Cabin Rectangles to go! Not big enough to cover up with yet. All the blocks are joined by knitting them together with a black yarn. I'm keeping a list of the Noro Kureyon colors I've used so I don't repeat any colors. It has been a nice little take along project so far. Not too big or complex to work on at basketball games or while waiting for our appetizers to arrive.

Doesn't everyone knit while they're waiting in a restaurant?

I happen to think pure bliss is a a good log cabin/ ball band/toe up sock and a three olive dirty martini!

I've also been trying to set aside more time to actually complete some charity knitting for our Church Knitting Ministry. I wasn't sure how much yardage I had to work with so I knit both adult and baby beanies from the top down. Some excellent links for this method are here and here.

Have a good week knitting and using up all your yarn clutterballs!

A NEW YEAR, A NEW CONTEST WINNER!

The contest is officially closed now and I've been looking forward to selecting the lucky number Using The Random Number Generator the lucky number selected was number 18!!!

Congratulations Vigdis-all the way from Norway!!!

Here was her comment:


Hello from Norway!My favorite knitting things are:* I have a little box that rooms all my tiny knitting things like, a beautiful little sizzor, needles, stitchmarkers, and a little ruler.* I have a yarnstashroom that is sooooooo great!* I have a great library of knitting and craft books.* I have some wonderful friends to share my love for knitting with.' I love all the wonderful knitting blogs (like yours) all over the world!Merry Christmas!Love Vigdis from Norway


Thank you everyone who played along. I enjoyed reading your comments and plan to visit all of your blogs to see what's going on in your knitting worlds! I'll be having more contests in 2010, just because they're fun, you guys are great to get to know and, maybe sharing my stash might bring a little happiness to someone who loves knitting as much as I do!

Vigdis, who I've learned is a big sock knitting lover, will be receiving some sock yarn from my Give Away Basket once she lets me know what her preferences are.

I was able to whip up a few stitch markers this afternoon to accompany some of the other goodies that are going to Norway!


I think my new year is starting out great! How about yours?


What makes me smile lately are these cozy Nana slippers I received as part of a co-worker Christmas Party Exchange Gift which was a totally random pick on my part. I love stuff like this, especially since I've never taken the time to knit myself a pair of my own!The photo was snapped on Christmas Eve and my legs are covered with the famous Wallaby sweater from Cottage Creations that, at that point in time, I was painfully aware would not be completed in time for Christmas morning. That blasted hood was taking forever to be finished! But, I had a plan.

The Christmas Pickle Plan!

On New Years Eve morning the Wallaby was completed, and placed in a gift bag. Shaun "competed"" with Mike for the the Christmas Pickle Last Gift. Shaun was very perplexed when he opened his gift because he had watched me knit "my sweater". Happily, he liked it, and it fit nicely in all the critical places.

I have knitter's peace now!

I have a few little projects to knit as gifts but I'm glad to say I am on garter ridge # 56 of my Einstein Jacket bottom. Lots more to go!

Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!